Flowers have bloomed!

Dahlia, dahling ...

 

Sunflower peeking thru the leaves

Shelly Nester's Recipes

Last week, Shelly Nester gave demo on making salad dressings using the herbs from the culinary herb beds.  A delicious time was had by all . . . stay tuned to www.twitter.com/freshnyummy for the date of her next demo.

Shelly Nester is the owner and founder of Trephó Wellness.  She is a Nutrition Educator, Whole Foods Chef and Food Writer who holds a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Culinary Arts from Bastyr University, Seattle WA.  For more about Shelly, http://www.trephowellness.com/.

Now, onto the recipes!

Simple Italian Salad with Creamy Balsamic Vinaigrette

Serves 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Vinaigrette

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1/2 teaspoon raw honey

½ teaspoon dijon mustard

1 clove garlic, minced

¼ teaspoon sea salt

Pinch of ground black pepper

Salad

1 head red leaf lettuce, torn into pieces and core removed

2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley

2 tablespoons freshly chopped basil

1 tablespoon freshly chopped oregano

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1 fennel bulb, chopped with core removed

Grated shards of parmesan or Romano to garnish

Combine all ingredients for dressing and blend in a food processor or in a measuring cup using an immersion blender.

To assemble salad, toss all vegetables and herbs together with the dressing and garnish with cheese.

Lemonbalm and Mint Salad Dressing

Yields: ½ cup dressing

Preparation time: 5 minutes

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon raw honey

1 tablespoon chopped mint

1 tablespoon chopped lemonbalm

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Red Wine Cherry Vinaigrette with Anise Hyssop

Yields: ½ cup dressing

Preparation time: 5 minutes

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons freshly chopped anise hyssop

6 cherries, destemmed and pitted

½ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon dijon mustard

1 teaspoon raw honey

Combine all ingredients for dressing and blend in a food processor or in a measuring cup using an immersion blender.  Serve over seasonal and fresh greens.

Copyright 2011, S. Nester / www.trephowellness.com, Original recipes

Farm to Market 3.7 miles

Meet Joe Fankhouser.  He’s the guy who brings our vegetables to you at the Redmond Saturday Market.  He's there,  every Saturday from 9am to 3pm. 

During the week, he’s out in the fields, managing the crew.  They plant, weed, and harvest all day in sunshine or rain.  It makes for long days.

On Saturday, his day starts even earlier.  He and the crew harvest the vegetables, then load up the van  and drive to the Redmond Saturday Market.  From morning to mid-afternoon, he sells the freshest vegetables which travel the shortest distance to get to market.
http://www.redmondsaturdaymarket.org/

You stop by and choose the vegetables you’d like.  Farm to Market to Table. Your table.
It doesn’t get any fresher, any more local than that.  And you can shake Joe’s hand.

Organic: why better?

We all know that the absence of poisonous pesticides and herbicides is the obvious benefit, but there are equally harmful things associated with chemical fertilizers, such as nitrates, phosphorous sources contaminated with heavy metals, and the absence of micro-nutrients which are needed for a healthy vegetable, therefore a healthy body. The difference in organic begins with the soil. One teaspoon of good organic soil contains millions of micro-organisms as well as larger things like beetles, earthworms, etc. These work on breaking down organic materials like natural fertilizers, compost, crop residue and turning it into nutrients that plants can use. Organic fertilizer is not water soluble and requires “digestion” to make these nutrients available. So things that would be harmful in their raw state (such as nitrates) are in a different form once they get into your food.

Not so with chemical fertilizers. They are made to be water soluble and are taken up by the plant in that form. They lack the valuable micro-nutrients that organically produced fertilizer has. Nitrates are ammonia based and are taken up in their raw form and concentrated in the plant tissues, as are any pollutants like lead, cadmium and arsenic among others .Chemical fertilizers are a prime pollutant of our water supplies. Most of our agricultural production districts have polluted wells. Farmers and their families have the highest incidence of brain, breast and testicular cancers of any other occupational group.

Because of the rampant use of pesticides and herbicides over the past few decades, the soils in chemically farmed land has very little if any beneficial soil life, because they too are killed by pesticides. So water soluble fertilizers are the “quick fix” needed to be able to grow on dead soil. There are many studies showing the increased nutrient content on organically produced food. Interestingly studies also show that damage from certain insects is less on organic crops that chemical crops, despite the use of pesticides. Unfortunately, the remedy is often to increase the frequency of pesticide application.  Insects such as aphids will attack the weaker, more bitter plants. And, as anyone who routinely eats organic knows, there is a definite difference in flavor – the chemicals make the taste more bitter.

Areas now called “dead zones” exist in agricultural areas in California, Florida, and the Mid-west. These areas have been so polluted that NOTHING lives there, in the soil, or out of it. And they are growing. The pollutants have leached down into ancient aquifers. Farmers who pay attention to the health of the soil are like builders who make sure the foundation of the building is secure – it doesn’t matter how much fancy stuff you build on top of that foundation is faulty.

So the next time you are tempted by that lush dark green hot-house basil, think again. Unless it is organic, you’re getting a lot more that you’re paying for – a hefty dose of nitrates. Greenhouse plant culture increases the nitrate levels that plants get from chemical fertilizers.

What to do?  Well, you are doing a lot already. Keeping our local farmland is urgently important to the local population, whether they realize it or not.  By far, the majority of small farms in King County are organic.  Also, by eating direct from a farm, you are getting the highest levels of nutrients possible, as well as live enzymes (which decrease the longer the time from harvest) which help your body utilize all those wonderful things.  Also, eating “with the seasons” has been purported to be more beneficial.  After a long winter, dark green leafy vegetables are just what we need.

And when you can’t buy directly from a farm, try to enroll in a winter program (such as our Winter Share Program).  You can save money and the produce is direct from the depot – many days fresher.  Or take advantage of organic produce which can now be found in most supermarkets.

 And, if you must buy an item that is not organic, how can you determine which is the worst?  A rule is that if the difference in price is wider between the organic vs. the non-organic, that item is not one you want. Why? Because that price differential is due to the ability of a non-organic grower to use more chemicals on that particular type of crop, hence the lower price.. Potatoes are a good example. They can be difficult to grow organically on a large scale, because there are so many pests that attack them, and the self life due to sprouting is limited.

But chemical farmed potatoes can be grown on fumigated soil (that is where they “inject” pesticides right into the soil), then coated with fungicide to prevent the planted pieces from rot, dosed with chemical fertilizer, then pesticides as they grow, also herbicides several times to prevent weeds, then along comes a “defoliant” (yes, it is the familiar “agent orange”) to get rid of those pesky vines so they can be dug. Not done yet – more fungicide to prevent after harvest rotting, AND another chemical is applied to retard sprouting so they can be stored longer. Whew! If you want to experiment, buy a couple of 10 lb bags of “conventional” potatoes and put them in a closed in place where it gets warm (like your car) for a couple of days. Then open it – what do you smell?

OK, got long winded – will continue another time. The only good part I can think of is that we don’t have to work in those chemical fields. Millions do. “Happy Farm Workers are Just Dying to Grow Your Food” might be a catchy title...

Life's a Bowl Full of Cherries

This week, we received a delivery of fresh bing cherries from local producer, Julie Finch.  They are large, ripe, and oh, so full of flavor, the result of tree-ripening the fruit.  Yum!!

 Julie Finch always picks later than the commercial orchards. She says the orchards spray with a protein to accelerate the color development but this does nothing to accelerate the taste and sweetness. She wants the flavor on her trees to develop naturally. This year, a lot of the fruit was killed at an early stage by frost, but this is not all bad as the remaining cherries on a tree will usually get much bigger.

Julie picked the cherries the day before she came to W. Wa, puts them in a cooler overnight, and then drove a delivery route to Root Connection Farm.   They pick directly into the 20lb shipping boxes, which is better for the fruit. Every time they are handled or moved from one container to another, there is the chance of bruising.

The orchard started in 1970 by Julie’s grandfather, a retired school teacher who planted 75 trees on one acre. Over the years, some have been replaced so the trees are of varying ages. He had 15 grandchildren and they all grew up helping to pick cherries and now the fourth generation is helping out, mostly little kids picking leaves out of the boxes. After he died, the orchard remained in the family and is now owned by Julie’s mother.

Five years ago, they switched to organic practices, but they aren’t Certified Organic and they do abide by state regulations for the control of fruit fly as all cherry sellers must.  Julie says it takes about $10,000 to get certified organic and it isn’t cost effective for such a small orchard.

We’re selling them this weekend in the Farm Store.  Come on down to “pick” yours! (Before they're going-going-gone ... )

4th July Weekend ~ … White & Blue

We couldn’t pass up this deliciousness: French Vanilla Ice Cream and Blueberries. 

Theno’s Dairy is just up the road from us and the blueberries arrived in this week’s fruit share.

 It is such  a pleasant neighborhood here at Root Connection Farm. We’re on SR202 near 124 NE Ave. near honey, duck eggs, artisan baskets, ice cream, but more about that in another post.

The weather is heating up for Monday’s fireworks but this will keep us cool till then. Yum!